Who is Mamman Khan, the Congress MLA arrested in for violence in Haryana's Nuh?

Mamman Khan was arrested early Friday by Haryana police, a day after the state government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it had named the Congress MLA as an accused in an FIR in a case connected to Nuh violence, which took place on 31 July. Mamman, who was detained by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Haryana police, will appear in court in Nuh later today. For a thorough interrogation, the police will ask the court to grant them custody of him, reported India Today. He claimed that he was being wrongly accused in the case because he was not present in the district on the day the violence broke out. However, Haryana Police informed the court that the grand-old party leader was named as an accused after a “proper evaluation of the evidence.” They added that there is “ample evidence” to support their case.

#BreakingNews | #NuhViolence: SIT team arrested #MammanKhan, MLA of Congress, supposedly the mastermind behind the violence against #ShobhaYatra,' BJP's Raman Malik hits out at Congress @Sriya_Kundu | @_anshuls pic.twitter.com/RWPD0nkLVF

— News18 (@CNNnews18) September 15, 2023

Also read: Haryana: How Nuh violence spread to Gurugram, where mosque was attacked Who is Mamman Khan? According to Election Commission data, Mamman Khan is a 56-year-old Congress legislator from Ferozepur Jhirka in Nuh district. The first-time MLA defeated the BJP’s Naseem Ahmad by a margin of over 37,004 votes in the 2019 Haryana elections. He also ran for office in 2014 as an Independent but lost to Ahmed, who ran on the INLD platform. He lost by a margin of 3,245 votes. He claims in his affidavit that he graduated from Bangalore University with a bachelor’s in civil engineering in 1994 and that he owns assets worth Rs. 5.44 crore. He identified himself as working in business, according to ThePrint. In the southern Haryana region, the Congress MLA is also known as “Engineer Mamman Khan” and is well known for his social activities. Additionally, he served as the District Congress Committee’s Working President in the past. Also read: ‘Burn them alive’: What FIR reveals about harrowing violence in Nuh What actually happened? Mamman made headlines earlier this year during the state assembly’s budget session with his comments on cow vigilante Monu Manesar . He identified Monu Manesar as one of those responsible for the killings of Junaid and Nasir during the Haryana Assembly’s Budget Session following their claimed murder by cow vigilantes. The bodies of the two, who were from Rajasthan, were discovered discarded in Haryana’s Bhiwani. Manesar was never detained even though Rajasthan Police had made a FIR. Mamman dared Manesar to visit the Mewat region in February while speaking in front of the Assembly, threatening to teach him a lesson if he did. He also presented pictures of purported violent crimes committed by Manesar. The Congress MLA had said, “Yeh Monu Manesar kahin Amit Shah ke saath phot khichva raha hai, kahin Arun Jaitley ke saath photo khichva raha hai. Kya darana chahta hai hamein yeh Mewatiyon ko ke main itna bada aadmi hoon? Abke yeh Mewat mein gaya toh isko pyaaz ki tarah phod denge (This Monu Manesar got his pictures clicked with Amit Shah at one place, with Arun Jaitley at another. Does he want to scare the Mewatis by showing that he is a big man? If he dares visit Mewat again, he will be crushed like an onion).”

Mamman displayed certain images in which Manesar and other cow vigilantes can be seen armed. The MLA questioned why the government had given them permission to own the firearms. He further claimed that Monu Manesar was responsible for the murder of three Muslim men in Mewat and had caused widespread destruction in the area. His charges prompted Dushyant Chautala to declare the creation of a commission to look into Khan’s allegations. According to Financial Express, the Deputy Chief Minister had said that the state government is probing the matter and whether it’s Mamman Khan or Monu Manesar, whoever is found responsible “shall not be spared at any cost.” Also read: How Nuh violence has put spotlight on rising cybercrime in the Haryana district What are the charges against him? The Haryana government was represented by Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabharwal, who said that Khan had been named as a suspect in one of the FIRs because he had communicated with an arrested suspect. According to Indian Express, he said, “In FIR No. 149 date 1 August 2023 registered under Sections 148, 149, 153-A, 379-Q, 436, 506 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Nagina, District Nuh, Haryana. 42 of the 52 accused individuals included in the FIR have already been arrested. One Taufiq, who is also listed as a defendant in the FIR, was taken into custody on 9 September. After that, a proper investigation was carried out, and Taufiq and Mamman Khan’s tower position and call records from their mobile phones were examined. The calls allegedly took place on 29 and 30 July, the day before the Nuh violence on 31 July. Mamman was within 1.5 kilometres of the location of the incident on 29 and 30, according to the location of the tower, so the averments to the effect that he was not close to the place of the occurrence in the petition are not correct. Statements of Security Officers of the petitioner i.e., Constable Jai Prakash and Constable Pradeep were also recorded under Section 161 CrPC, confirming the fact, according to the report. [caption id=“attachment_13126222” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] At least six people were killed as a result of the violence that broke out in Haryana’s Nuh district on 31 July. PTI[/caption] Mamman said in his appeal that he was not in Nuh from 26 July to 1 August but instead was at his residence in Gurugram, as per NDTV. Also on 30 July, Mamman wrote on Facebook and WhatsApp that “Nobody needs to worry as the petitioner had fought for them in the Vidhan Sabha and will fight for them in Mewat also.” Additionally, the FIR claims that one Abdulla Khan is also an accused who has not yet been arrested despite the fact that he had stated in one of his tweets, “Engineer Mamman Khan MLA Mission complete.” The MLA had previously been asked twice by Nuh Police to join in the investigation, but he did not show up. He claimed he could not appear for interrogation on 31 August due to viral fever, reported NDTV. The fact that Mamman’s name was mentioned in one of the FIRs came to light on Thursday when his petition was heard urgently by a high court bench presided over by Justice Vikas Bahl. In his petition, the Congress MLA requested that an officer with the rank of inspector general be appointed to lead the SITs for a fair investigation and that he must not be arrested. According to the government, the team has already been formed. Hindustan Times quoted Mamman’s counsel Ashrdeep Singh Cheema as saying, “The bench directed us to move the lower court for anticipatory bail. On the prayer to appoint an IG to head the SITs, the Haryana government was served notice,” adding that the court has fixed 19 October as the next date for hearing in the matter. Also read: Haryana violence: How social media posts fuelled communal hate before the clashes Nuh violence At least six people were killed as a result of the violence that broke out in Haryana’s Nuh district on Monday, 31 July, and quickly spread to other areas of the state. Among those killed were a mosque cleric, two home guards, and three civilians. As the violence progressed, people began attacking both public and private automobiles. By evening, rioting on the Gurugram-Sohna highway was reported, with cars being burned and stones being thrown at the police. Nuh is a southern Haryana district that shares a border with Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. With inputs from agencies